Training for Torrington Prison Starts Today

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Work on Wyoming's new medium-security prison in Torrington is wrapping up, and the first training class for officers starts today at nearby Camp Guernsey.

A contractor is scheduled to complete the Wyoming Department of Corrections new $128 million facility in late November. Warden Michael Murphy says he expects that the first bus load of inmates will arrive at the prison in January or early February.

The new prison is called the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution and has a maximum capacity of 720 inmates. The corrections department currently is paying to house about 200 male inmates in prisons in Virginia. The department says that opening the new Torrington prison will allow the state to bring those men back to Wyoming.